Telangana Cable Operators Federation (TCOF) has complained to the Minister for Information and Broadcasting against five OTT platforms, namely Sony Pictures Network India, Star India, Viacom 18 Media, Warner Media India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
The Federation alleged that these companies have deliberately violated provisions of Cable Television Networks (Regulations) Act, 1995 and Policy Guidelines for down linking of television channels by retransmitting the down linked channels to the subscribers without obtaining registration under Cable Television Networks (Regulations) Act, 1995.
Their main contention is that the transmission of channels to the ultimate consumer can be done only in accordance with Cable Television Network (Regulations) Act, 1995 and therefore, all the requirements of DAS License has to be fulfilled in order to distribute signals of channels to the ultimate subscribers. It is brought to the notice of the Minister that these companies are transmitting the pay channels without Digital Addressable Systems.
The Federation has also brought to the notice of the minister that these companies have theor own OTT platforms, namely SonyLiv, Disney Hotstar, Voot and Zee5 and they are transmitting their channel content to the ultimate consumer though their self-owned apps. “They are also violating the condition of the policy by using their own decoders which is not allowed under Policy Down linking Guidelines” the Federation alleged.
“While the regulation clearly shows that a subscriber receives signals only from DTH Operators, Multi-System operators, HITS operators or IPTV operators, it is clear that TRAI had no intention to permit the Broadcasters to directly provide their signals to the ultimate subscribers by whatsoever medium. The entire Cable TV industry is suffering severe injury due to non-level playing field created by the above mentioned Companies by bypassing the regulations. We, the cable TV operators of Telangana, state that many of our subscribers have migrated to OTT platforms created by the above said Broadcasters.” Said the Federation in its memorandum to the Minister for Information and Broadcasting.
The Telangana Cable Operators federation has thus requested the minister to take cognizance of the offences committed by the above-stated companies who have violated the policy guidelines for down linking of television channels, swift action should be taken in accordance with the laws on an immediate basis.
